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A phone call was made from Toronto Star reporter Daniel Dale’s cellphone on Wednesday night at 8:37 p.m. — about 45 minutes after he surrendered his BlackBerry to Rob Ford in a heated confrontation behind the mayor’s home.

During their interview with Dale Thursday, police also said his phone had multiple bars of battery life when they obtained it from Ford. Dale said his cellphone was completely dead when he gave it to the mayor.

On Wednesday, Dale was confronted by Ford in a public park behind his Etobicoke home while researching a story about the mayor’s bid to buy public land adjacent to his property. In his application to the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, Ford said he wanted to build a security fence for his young children. It is rare for private individuals to request to buy public land.

The piece of land in question was actually a small parcel beside the mayor’s house. Dale mistakenly thought it was parkland behind the Ford home, however, beyond the mayor’s fenced yard, and that’s where he was standing when the mayor confronted him.

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Dale said the mayor charged at him with a cocked fist, prevented him from leaving the area, and shouted repeatedly for him to drop his phone.

Dale said he eventually “threw” his phone, which had no power at that point, and voice recorder on the grass, “yelled that (Ford) could take them, and ran.”

Dale said he drove to a nearby gas station and borrowed someone’s phone to call the Star newsroom at approximately 7:55 p.m. Police say they were called about a “possible trespass” at Ford’s home at 8:10 p.m.

But at 8:37 p.m., someone using Dale’s cellphone called Andreacchi, whom Dale had phoned earlier that same day.

It is not known whether other phone calls or messages were sent with Dale’s phone, or if emails or data had been accessed. Ford gave Dale’s cellphone and recorder to police, who have obtained court authorization to keep it until the investigation is over.

Police say they have not used or searched the phone, which would require a warrant.

The Fords said they have security footage of Dale behind their house, which they have also turned over to police. They refused to release it to the media, however.

Dale was interviewed by police Thursday afternoon and has not been charged.

But if, in fact, Ford was the person who powered Dale’s cellphone and then used it, the mayor may have technically committed a crime, said criminal lawyer Reid Rusonik.

If Ford used force or intimidation to make Dale surrender his BlackBerry, then the phone would be considered property obtained by crime, Rusonik said.

“It’s no different than if you’re walking along the street and somebody says to you, ‘Drop your purse and get the hell out of here,’ and makes you think, with a cocked fist … that you’re going to get beaten if you don’t do it,” he said. “And then they go through your purse — your purse is, at that point, property obtained by crime.”

Dale said he felt physically intimidated by Ford on Wednesday, to the point where he “became more frightened than I can remember.” The mayor himself has acknowledged in a radio interview that he debated whether or not to hit Dale.

“Honestly, I was so upset, I didn’t know if I was going to hit him or not,” Ford said in a radio interview with NewsTalk 1010 Thursday afternoon. “And I said, ‘No no, just keep your cool, Rob, keep your cool.”

On Thursday, Ford did a flurry of media interviews reiterating his claim that Dale was standing on cinder blocks behind his home and taking photos of his backyard. He said his neighbour, who alerted him to the man behind his property, also saw Dale on the cinder blocks.

Dale said he did not climb onto the cinder blocks — or even knew they were there — and said he only took photographs of some trees and Ford’s backyard fence shortly before his phone battery died.

Ford also told Newstalk 1010 that he will no longer be speaking to city hall reporters if Dale is present in the media scrum. In another interview later that same day, he amended his position to say he will refuse to speak with reporters if any Star reporters are present.

The mayor is calling for the Star to remove Dale from the city hall beat. Star editor Michael Cooke said he has no plans to do so.

“Mayor Ford is not in a position to be dictating the assignments of reporters who cover him,” Cooke said. “We have no plans to restrict Daniel Dale from attending any press conferences or scrums he would normally cover as a city hall reporter. We don’t tell Mayor Ford where his staffers should be based, we would appreciate the same courtesy.”

At City Hall Thursday, Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti, a supporter of the mayor and member of Ford’s executive team, said that family should be hands-off to the media. He probably would have reacted the same way Ford did, he said.

“Are we in a state of paparazzi now in this city, adopting the United States’ way of dealing with media? I hope no,’’ Mammoliti said.

But other councillors were critical of Ford’s behaviour. Left-leaning councillor and Ford critic Glenn De Baeremaeker said the mayor might need anger management counselling and should apologize to Dale.

“If the mayor truly had concerns he should do what anyone else does and just pick up the phone and call 911. But the mayor actually had to go out of his way to engage in a confrontation,” he said. “I think it’s very unfortunate and I think the mayor acted very inappropriately.”

Councillor Shelley Carroll, another frequent Ford opponent, said the mayor’s chronic “overreactions” are starting to make Toronto look bad.

Wednesday’s incident “takes us into the realm of, one could almost say, international embarrassment,” she told the Canadian Press on Thursday.

Political watchers outside city hall are also cringing at Ford’s behaviour, which is making him come “across as a thug,” said Graham White, a political science professor at the University of Toronto.

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